


In Waking Memory

by thekumquat



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, The Power Of Love, so ridiculously mushy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-20
Updated: 2015-09-20
Packaged: 2018-04-22 13:35:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4837181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thekumquat/pseuds/thekumquat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The asset remembers something. In the grand scheme of things, it's not important. But it's a good memory.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Waking Memory

It is a memory.

He is lying on his back in a narrow, uncomfortable bed. There is nothing between his nakedness and the world but a thin sheet, once white, now gray by age and hard water. There is a body pressed up against him, small and warm and just as sweaty as he is. It should be uncomfortable, but it isn’t. In the memory, he feels nothing but content.

The body is small and thin and fragile. He doesn’t have to look at it to see. He can feel the bones the arms pressed up against his. The asset could shatter this body like glass. But he doesn’t. He just stares up at the ceiling, thoughtfully.

“You know, if the girls in this city knew what a good lay you were, you wouldn’t have so much trouble getting a date.” The words come from the asset’s mouth, but the voice doesn’t sound like him.

An elbow connects with his side. The blow is awkward and doesn’t hurt in the slightest, but he has killed men for less. He doesn’t though. For some reason, it only makes him feel amused.

“Shut up,” a voice says. It is exasperated, but he knows that there’s no offence there.

“I mean it! Hey, you know what, we should pass around a picture of the face you make right before you-“

Another, harder blow to his chest. It still doesn’t hurt and he still doesn’t kill the man beside him.  

“ _Bucky_!”

He laughs.

The asset never laughs.

“I’m _teasing_ ,” he says, affectionately. He wraps an arm around a pair of thin, narrow shoulders, and squeezes. He still hasn’t looked down at the face of the body – of the man – beside him. “You know I like being the only one who gets to see you this way.”

“Yeah, you’re a real romantic. A regular Cary Grant.” It takes the asset a moment to recognize the tone – sarcasm. He doesn’t hear it much.

In the memory, he reaches down between himself and the man beside him. He fumbles for a minute, then grabs a hand. He presses it to his chest.

“Dearest, darling beloved,” he says, voice thick with fake emotions. “Light of my life, baby doll, sweetheart, _angel_ —“

This time the blow hits him in the stomach, and actually knocks the wind out of him a little.

No bones shatter, no blood spills, no screams rend the still, hot air.

Instead, he rolls over, moving to cover the body beneath him with his own. Finally, finally, he looks down at the man’s face. Blonde hair is streaked dark with sweat; the eyes are blue and even outside of the memory he thinks of them as beautiful. The jaw is more determined than it has any right to be, belonging to a body so frail.

“Steven Grant Rogers,” he says, slowly, formally. The blonde man rolls his eyes. “Hey, shut up, I’m being serious for once, you punk.”

“Right, sure, go ahead.”

“ _Steve_ ,” he says, insistently. Steve meets his eyes, and it is wonderful in ways the asset can no longer describe. “I love you. More than any dame, more than anyone else in this whole damn world. I love you.”

The man beneath him smiles, and it takes his breath away, in the memory and in the present.

“I love you too. You jerk.”

He leans down, and they kiss. Everything is perfect, in that moment.

 

On a fire escape in Chicago, the asset opens his eyes. Despite the sheeting rain and the press of the metal against his back, he feels warm and peaceful.

In the semi-darkness of night in a city, Bucky says _“Steve”._

**Author's Note:**

> This was one of the first fics I ever wrote for this fandom. I finished it and totally forgot about it till just now. Figured I'd go ahead and post it.


End file.
